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David Archuleta Wikipedia

David James Archuleta (born December 28, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. At ten years old, he won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition leading to other television singing appearances.[6] When he was twelve years old, Archuleta became the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2.[6] In 2007, at sixteen years old, he became one of the youngest contestants on the seventh season of American Idol.[7] In May 2008 he finished as the runner-up, receiving 44 percent of over 97 million votes.

The American Idol alum, 26, premiered his latest song, “Up All Night,” on Tuesday, one month ahead of the release of his new EP, Orion.

“‘Up All Night’ came from when I was having a really rough month trying to see how I could make a statement and prove myself and was getting nowhere,” Archuleta shares with PEOPLE.

The singer retreated into nature for some songwriting inspiration.

“A family living in rural Tennessee invited me over to go fishing at their pond. None of the kids even had smartphones at the time. They took me in and when I got home I realized I felt whole again,” Archuleta reveals. “I was so confused with what happened that I couldn’t sleep. I had to get out what I was feeling so I went to the keyboard and recorded the verse and chorus with some lyrics that night.”

Archuleta’s retrospective lyrics represent the mix of self-reflection and pop melodies that fans can look forward to hearing on his new EP.

“Orion is the first in a series of EP’s that I have been working on since returning from a two year mission in Chile,” he tells PEOPLE. “I’ve co-written all of the songs, and they they tell the journey of where I have been and where I am heading.”

“Up All Night” follows-up the EP’s lead single, “Numb,” which premiered last November. Earlier this month, Archuleta debuted the artwork for Orion on social media, also sharing that the album would be available on May 19.

And some background on the writing of Up All Night!

And then there’s David Archuleta. I remember the first time we met, he’d come from church, and a wonderful friend of ours, who we’d written with a few times said she’d met him at church and had invited him to write with us. “Sure,” I thought, knowing how Nashville is, and that David would almost definitely be a no-show. But he showed. And we wrote. At first, it was awkward and clunky- like any first date might be (writing date that is)- and before we knew it, we had a verse and chorus. And I looked in his eyes. “You hate this, don’t you?” I said to the near stranger, who was quiet, even when he sang, even though he was a pop star around the world. He looked at me wide eyed, not wanting to say he did, but I knew he did. “We’re throwing it out.” I said. And we did. We started a new song. We finished the new song. And it was good. At the end of the day, he asked me how I knew, and I said, “I just watched you. I just tried to see what you were feeling.” I think that was the day that cemented our friendship, and songs just followed, because, when your friends with a lot on your hearts, and you create, it feels like it’s a disservice to your calling to not allow the songs in. But every time we wrote with David, I wondered if he felt what I hoped he’d felt: Heard. I never felt like it was my job to write with David, because, remember- I’m not “enough” or anything- certainly not a writer- to qualify as one. I felt it was my job to facilitate his ability to write. One of the songs we wrote is being released- tomorrow- as a single from his EP, and people are hearing it. I’ve watched on Twitter as people quote lines that fell out of my mouth, or David’s heart, or Shaun’s playing, and I think “Oh my God…this is the power of art.” But I’m not writer enough for this… I’m not writer enough to get a publishing deal in Nashville, and if I’m not writer enough for that, I’m not writer enough for this… Read here!

So much stuff! I love love Up All Night and so does everyone I have shared it with! And to top it all off David graces us with a facebook live vlog!!!! 19 wonderful minutes 🙂